$Unique_ID{COW02579}
$Pretitle{433}
$Title{Netherlands
Active Participation in European Power Politics}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Ministry of Foreign Affairs}
$Affiliation{Embassy of the Netherlands, Washington DC}
$Subject{republic
william
french
netherlands
constitution
new
dutch
king
north
england}
$Date{1989}
$Log{}
Country:     Netherlands
Book:        History of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Author:      Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Affiliation: Embassy of the Netherlands, Washington DC
Date:        1989

Active Participation in European Power Politics

     In response to the request of the States-General Queen Elizabeth of
England had sent a contingent of troops under the Earl of Leicester to the
Republic in 1585, since it was in England's interests that the North Sea
continental ports should not fall into the hands of a great power.

     In 1596 a triple alliance was concluded between France, England and the
Republic, directed against Spain. The alliance was important in that it
implied recognition of the new Republic by both England and France; its
military significance was less since Spain had little striking force left.

     The Southern Netherlands had remained Spanish and by the end of the
Eighty Years' War there was a growing realization in the Republic that it
would be better to leave the status quo unchanged, so that the South could act
as a buffer against France. Moreover, there was little desire in the North to
see the port of Antwerp become part of the Republic in view of the potential
competition to Amsterdam.

     Peace came with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The Northern
Netherlands were now officially independent of both the Spanish king and the
nominal suzerain, the Holy Roman Emperor. The Scheldt, affording access to
Antwerp, remained blockaded. Stadholder William II wished to continue the war
in order to gain more territory for the Republic, but the Provincial Estates,
particularly of Holland, resolutely opposed him. As a result of the dispute
between Estates and Stadholder, it was decided not to appoint a new stadholder
after William's untimely death in 1650. During this first stadholderless
period (1650-1672) William's widow, Mary Stuart (daughter of Charles I of
England), gave birth to a son who was to become William III of Orange and King
of England. The oligarchies deemed that the scion of the House of Orange
should be given no opportunity of acceding to his father's office and
consequently he was brought up under the supervision of John de Witt, Grand
Pensionary and de facto Head of State in default of a stadholder.

     The English, who had helped the Republic in its struggle for
independence, now perceived with dismay that Dutch ocean-going trade was
extending to all parts of the globe. The Dutch jurist Grotius (see
Independence, trade and prosperity), defended the principle of the freedom
of the seas, but English jurists opposed this with the notion of Britain's
supremacy over all the seas surrounding the British Isles. In 1651 the English
Parliament passed the Navigation Act, which dealt a severe blow to Dutch
shipping as it provided that raw materials or other goods destined for England
or her colonies could be carried only by English vessels or vessels of the
country producing the goods.

     The first war between the Republic and Britain (1652-1654) broke out
when, four years after the Treaty of Westphalia, Cromwell, now Lord Protector
of England, had Dutch ships held and searched outside British territorial
waters The Dutch navy was not yet powerful enough to secure prompt enforcement
of the Republic's claim to free access for her shipping to the North Sea and
English Channel. However, Cromwell feared a rising in Britain to restore the
Stuarts, while Grand Pensionary De Witt feared the restoration in the Republic
of the House of Orange, which was related to the Stuarts. For these reasons of
state, both sides were anxious to bring the war to an early close, and a peace
was accordingly concluded. The Navigation Act, the casus belli, was retained,
but the Estates of Holland undertook never again to appoint a prince of Orange
as stadholder, thus meeting the wishes of both De Witt and Cromwell.

     The Dutch navy subsequently grew in strength, with the result that it did
achieve success about 1660, this time in the Baltic where Dutch warships, then
nicknamed the 'Keys of the Sound', maintained free access and foiled Sweden's
bid for hegemony in the area.

     As a result of continuing trade rivalry, the second  Anglo-Dutch war
broke out in 1665. After the first war, the States-General had commissioned
a number of purpose-built men-of-war, so the great Dutch admiral, Michiel de
Ruyter, no longer had to make shift with converted merchantmen to do battle
against the English. In 1667 he even succeeded in forcing an entry into the
Thames estuary and destroyed or captured English warships tied up in the
Medway. Peace was now made with alacrity, the English relaxing somewhat the
provisions of the Navigation Act and ceding Surinam to the Republic in
exchange for New Amsterdam, which they had taken in the course of the war.

     It was then that King Louis XIV of France, seeking to take advantage of
the discord between the Netherlands and Britain, made a move to gain
possession of the Spanish Netherlands. He was obliged to abandon his
attempts, however, because the Republic made a pact with England and Spain
in 1668 to withstand French expansionism. Louis nevertheless laid plans for
a fresh attack in the north, and in turn concluded secret agreements with
England and the Bishoprics of Munster and Cologne.

     As a result, the Republic was attacked simultaneously on three flanks
in the spring of 1672: from the sea by an Anglo-French fleet, on the east by
troops from Munster and Cologne, and on the south by the French army,
commanded by Louis XIV in person, which had struck north along the Maas and
invaded the Republic. In the general confusion that ensued both among the
people and in the government, De Witt was forced to resign as Grand
Pensionary, and the son of William II of Orange was appointed Stadholder
despite previous undertakings. The new stadholder assumed office at a time
when most of the Republic was occupied by enemy armies. The French advance
had been checked, but only at the cost of flooding a broad area of land
between the provinces of Holland and Utrecht. In the north, the town of
Groningen was holding out against the attacks of the Bishop of Munster's
troops, and it was only with difficulty that the Dutch navy managed to prevent
an Anglo-French landing on the coast of Holland.

     William III contrived to reorganize his week land forces and even to
mount a series of offensives. The fortress of Bonn, where supplies for the
French army in the Netherlands were stored, was captured, as a result of which
the French were compelled to withdraw from the Republic. The troops from
Munster and Cologne also withdrew. Spain and Brandenburg concluded an
alliance with the Republic, and England withdrew from the war in 1674. The
Republic and her allies continued the struggle against the French in the
Southern Netherlands, until Louis XIV agreed to make peace in 1678.

     From then on the Republic, under the political and military leadership
of William III, was the keystone of all alliances designed to maintain the
balance of power in Europe by containing expansionist moves on the part of
France.

     At the invitation of the English Parliament, William III crossed to
England with an army in 1688 to help depose James II, a Catholic and loyal
ally of Louis XIV. William III and his consort Mary II, daughter of James II,
were crowned King and Queen of England. During the War of the Grand Alliance
(1688-1697) that followed, the members of the Grand Alliance of Vienna, namely
Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, Brandenburg, Sweden, Spain, Savoy and the
Republic, fought against France. At the end of the war Louis XIV was obliged
to accept the change of sovereignty in England and recognized William III as
King.

     Louis XIV was also prevented from securing for France the inheritance of
the Spanish Hapsburgers when the line died out with Charles II in 1700.

     William III had directed all his diplomacy towards bringing about a
division of the Spanish succession that would achieve a balance of power in
Europe.

     He died in 1702, however, at the start of the War of the Spanish
Succession, which broke out on account of France's opposition to this policy.
For the Republic, the principal outcome of the war was that the Southern
Netherlands passed to Austria and a number of southern fortresses were
garrisoned by Republican troops to form a bulwark against France.

     Active participation in European power politics had demanded a great
effort of the Republic, as a result of which there was a general desire for a
period of calm in which to consolidate the nation's forces. Dutch political
leaders therefore embarked on a policy of not becoming involved in major
European conflicts. One factor contributing to the new trend was the absence
of the inspiring leadership of William III, who had been bent on pursuing an
active European policy. William's death without issue ushered in another
stadholderless period; only in Friesland did the Nassaus, members of a lateral
branch of the House of Orange, continue as stadholders.

Growing aloofness in international affairs

     The years comprising the second stadholderless period (1702-1747) and
those that ensued were not among the most spectacular in Dutch history. A
generation had grown up who wished to enjoy the fruits of their forefathers'
achievement and to live in peace. They opted for safe investment in land or
State securities, and had no taste for hazardous commercial or political
ventures. Initially, trade and industry did not show a decline, merely a
slowdown in growth. But by comparison with  expanding nations, like England,
this was in fact tantamount to recession, although the trade denied to the
Republic on account of the Navigation Act was subsequently compensated by
trade with Russia once Peter the Great opened up a port on the Baltic.

     Nevertheless, the Mercantile System adopted by the major powers to
promote their own trade hampered Dutch trade and shipping. During the Golden
Age goods from all over the world had been transshipped in Amsterdam; now
goods were shipped direct from producer to consumer, and the role of the
merchants of Amsterdam was restricted to financing operations. This obviously
had adverse effects on the employment situation in Dutch ports and their
hinterlands. Only the cloth industry revived, with the influx of the Huguenots
who Fled France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) and
continued to practise their craft in the Republic.

     Despite the numerous attempts there was still no strong central
government in the Republic. The provinces, and especially the large towns,
enjoyed considerable autonomy. The towns were run by oligarchies of rich
burghers, who shared out offices among themselves, admitting no new blood. In
the eastern provinces the nobility was still dominant and the lower and
lower-middle classes had no legitimate means at all of pleading their cause or
proposing changes. The ordinary people yearned for the return of the House of
Orange as stadholders, who they expected would bring about changes for the
better. Such expectations were illusory since the powers of the stadholders
were also subject to limitations.

     Moreover, the stadholders of the previous century had taken more interest
in foreign policy and military campaigning than in domestic affairs. Very
little had consequently been achieved in the way of improvements to the
administrative machine.

     In 1747 the War of the Austrian Succession broke out. The Republic was
officially on the side of Austria and when French troops invaded the south of
the Republic in the same year, there was, as there had been in 1672, an
outburst of popular fury, culminating in the appointment of the Frisian
stadholder, William IV, as Stadholder of all seven provinces.

     William IV was not descended from William III (who died without issue)
but from the branch of the House of Orange whose scions had served as
stadholders of Friesland since 1585. The office of stadholder was now declared
hereditary in order to forestall any recurrence of the oligarchies' failure to
elect a stadholder. William IV was given extensive, almost royal, powers to
bring about democratic reforms in the government of the Republic, but he was
able to achieve little during his four years of office.

     William IV died in 1751, leaving a son, William V, then aged three.
Pending his majority in 1766, the regency was assumed by his mother, an
English princess; after her death in 1759, the Duke of Brunswick, an Austrian
nobleman, exercised the military functions attaching to the stadholdership on
William's behalf. William V, like his father before him, had greater
opportunities than had been given to previous stadholders to break the
established power of the oligarchies in the Republic, but he altogether lacked
the ambition to take the lead. He was wholly subject to the influence of his
personal adviser, the Duke of Brunswick, who advocated a conservative policy.
During all the major European wars in this period the Republic maintained an
anxious neutrality in order to protect her foreign trade. When the American
colonists rebelled against the British in 1776 the merchants of the Republic
were quick to apprehend the vast possibilities that lay in North America,
where, until then, England had enjoyed a monopoly. Supplies were shipped to
the Americas through the West Indian island of St Eustatius, and a group of
Amsterdam merchants even went so far as to enter into an agreement with the
rebel leaders. Under the pressure of public opinion, the States-General
refused to allow England to withdraw, as a temporary measure, the Scots
Brigade, a British regiment in a Republican service. All these events were
reason enough for the British declaration of war on the Republic in 1780. It
soon became clear how much stronger than the Republic England had become. The
Republican navy was unable to safeguard the free passage of Dutch shipping in
the North Sea and English Channel. Countless richly laden vessels fell into
British hands; the remainder of the mercantile marine lay idle in the ports of
the Republic.

     These political and economic setbacks gave the people, who were denied
any voice in the government, cause to press for reforms. The political
theories of the Enlightenment also had their supporters. Those who advocated
giving propertied citizens a say in the government called themselves the
Patriots; their chief spokesman was a Gelderland noble, Van der Capellen, who
published a pamphlet anonymously entitled `To the People of the Netherlands',
the tenor of which was extremely radical for the time. The Patriots opposed
both the oligarchies and the Stadholder and his entourage. They maintained
close relations with likeminded men abroad, particularly in France and the
United States.

     The situation came to a head when the Patriots began to raise militias in
every town and village, and the country was threatened by civil war. Numerous
members of the oligarchies, fearing for their positions, joined the Patriots.
Stadholder William V and his family were publicly insulted in The Hague, the
administrative capital, and saw no alternative but to flee to Nijmegen in the
hope of enlisting the support of the local garrison.

     Almost immediately after the Stadholder's court had fled to Nijmegen,
William's consort, Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, decided to return to The
Hague to rally those remaining loyal to the Stadholder, who were especially
numerous among the lower classes, against the Patriots. But soon after she and
her escorts crossed the border into the province of Holland, she was stopped
by a unit of Patriot militia in the vicinity of Gouda and forced to turn back.
Her brother, the King of Prussia, subsequently despatched an army to her aid,
and the main centres of the rebellion were quickly subdued. Once William's
authority was restored, the majority of the patriciate once again took the
side of the Stadholder. Many Patriot leaders fled south to bide their time in
France; others crossed the Atlantic to a new life in the United States.

The French Revolution and the Napoleonic period

     The revolt against traditional authority, stifled in the Republic
through the intervention of Prussian troops, was taking shape and gathering
momentum elsewhere in Europe and finally erupted in France with the
Revolution of 1789. In January 1795 a French army reinforced by Dutch Patriot
units crossed the frozen rivers into Holland. It encountered little
resistance, and Stadholder William V and his family fled, departing from
Scheveningen beach in a fishing-boat bound for England. On arrival he
authorized the British government to occupy the Dutch colonies for the
duration of French rule in the Republic. Amid great jubilation, the seven
occupied provinces witnessed the birth of a new, French-style, Batavian
Republic, in which Liberty, Equality and Fraternity were to prevail. For
their part in the `liberation' of the Republic the French claimed a number of
strongholds on the southern border, the sum of one hundred million guilders
and the establishment of a military alliance. Moreover, the Republic was
required to support 25,000 French troops.

     The framing of the constitution for the new Republic gave rise to two
opposing political formations, the unitarians and the federalists,
respectively for and against centralized government. Other countries
experienced a similar conflict at that time, notably the United States. The
unitarians, following the example of the French Jacobins, mounted a coup,
which resulted in a constitution providing for a strongly centralized system.
Another major innovation was equality of religion, whereby those who were not
members of the Reformed Church were allowed to take an active part in politics
for the first time since the end of the Eighty Years' War. For the rest, the
government of the Batavian Republic was a faithful copy of the French system.
After Napoleon became Emperor of France in 1804, he was anxious that the
Batavian Republic should also have a monarchical government. R.J.
Schimmelpenninck, the Dutch envoy in Paris, was invested with virtually
sovereign authority under the familiar title of Grand Pensionary. He remained
in power for one year only, however, but in that short time his able ministers
contrived to frame an Education Act that remained in force until 1857 and a
system of taxation that operated almost throughout the 19th century.
Schimmelpenninck's brief term of office ended with Napoleon's decision to make
his brother Louis Bonaparte King of Holland. A few months later the new
monarch took up residence in the town-hall in Amsterdam, which has been a
royal palace ever since. Louis did his utmost to win the confidence of his
subjects and to promote their interests; he even learned the Dutch language,
reputedly so difficult for the French.

     On the economic front, there was intensive clandestine trade between the
North Sea coast and England, especially in tropical products, which were
scarce in the Netherlands as the Continental System introduced by Napoleon cut
off the supply of overseas goods. This had inflicted a fatal blow on the
country's market economy, particularly since the French frontiers were also
closed to Dutch commercial traffic.

     Louis failed to take strong enough action against the contraband trade
for the Emperor's taste. Accordingly, the Kingdom of Holland was dissolved in
1810 and the Northern Netherlands were incorporated in the French Empire. With
incorporation came the introduction of French law, rigorous implementation of
the Continental System, French military service for Dutchmen and crippling
taxation. It was not surprising, therefore, that the French, hailed as
liberators in 1795, were now viewed as hated oppressors. But under the
oppression there burgeoned a new national consciousness that dispelled old
partisan differences. Along with other European peoples, the Dutch now
anxiously awaited the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire.

Reunification and separation of the Northern and Southern Netherlands

     With the failure of Napoleon's Russian campaign, liberation from the
French yoke was imminent. The former Pensionary of Rotterdam, Gijsbert Karel
van Hogendorp, now resident in The Hague, realized that it would not be in the
interests of the Northern Netherlands' political future if foreign troops were
to free the country from the occupying power. In mid-November 1813 he formed a
provisional government of Van Limburg Stirum, Van der Duyn van Maasdam and
himself, comprising a triumvirate which proclaimed the Netherlands once again
independent and joined the international Coalition against Napoleon.

     One of the first acts of the new government was to invite the son of
Stadholder William V, in exile in England, to assume the sovereignty of the
renascent State. For the rest the triumvirate's hands were tied, the chief
towns being still occupied by French garrisons. But there was a draft
constitution lying ready, which Van Hogendorp had elaborated during his
absence from office in the years of French rule. The new sovereign landed in
Scheveningen on 30 November 1813. He announced that he would accept the
sovereignty `subject to the guarantee of a wise constitution'. Under the
constitution enacted shortly after on the basis of Van Hogendorp's draft, the
former power of the provinces was permanently suppressed and a central
monarchy established. A parliament was set up, which was accorded some albeit
a minor voice in running the country. In 1815 William assumed the title of
King of the Netherlands.

     The administration of the colonies, however, rested solely with the
Crown. The overseas territories, nearly all of which had passed into British
hands during the Napoleonic wars, were subsequently restored to the
Netherlands, with the exception of the Cape Colony, Ceylon and what is now
Guyana. A closer delimitation of Dutch and British spheres of influence in
Asia took place in 1824. Under the treaty signed on that occasion, the
Netherlands ceded her Indian possessions and Malacca in exchange for a number
of British bases in Sumatra. This treaty marked an important step in the
process of the transformation of the farflung mercantile empire of the Dutch
East India Company scattered across the continent of Asia into the cohesive
territorial entity formed by the Netherlands East Indies of the 20th century.

     Within two years, the constitution of 1813 needed to be adapted to the
drastically changed situation created by the decision of the powers convening
at the Congress of Vienna (1815) to unite the Northern with the Southern
Netherlands which had remained part of the Hapsburg Empire. The new State was
expected to form a bulwark against renewed French aggression. The enterprise
was, as soon became evident, a precarious one. The two countries had grown
apart in every respect since the end of the 16th century. In the North, the
Reformed Church had been the established church until 1795; equality of
religion had only been introduced during the French period. The South had
remained predominantly Catholic and there was opposition to the provision
written into the constitution by the Great Powers prescribing equal protection
for all religions. The North had become an independent nation as early as
1648; the South had remained throughout a remote province of the Spanish, and
later the Austrian Empire.

     When William I presented the constitution to a number of notables for
approval those in the North approved it, but the Belgians rejected the draft
by a large majority. A proportion of those who had voted against or abstained
were known to be unwilling to accept it solely on account of the religious
provision. William I promptly counted this group as being in favour and
considered the new constitution adopted. Naturally enough, the Belgians did
not take kindly to this `arithmetique hollandaise'.

     So the reunification got off to a bad start, and the Belgians soon began
to emphasize its negative aspects. The South had 3 1/2 million inhabitants,
the North 2 million; yet each sent an equal number of representatives (55) to
the Lower Chamber of the States-General. The national debt, far higher in the
North, was shared by both parts of the Kingdom. Most government officials were
recruited from the North, where there were more people with administrative
experience on whose greater complaisance the King could rely. The
French-speaking Belgians, the Walloons, could not accept the fact that Dutch
was made the official language in the Flemish provinces and bilingualism
prescribed for the Walloon provinces, Accordingly, the considerable economic
advantages likely to accrue to the South from unification with the North, with
its vast colonial markets, were lost sight of. From the outset, King William
I had great expectations of the marriage of Dutch trade and Belgian industry,
Dutch ships being able to transport the goods manufactured on national soil to
the colonies and other parts of the world. William I's character and attitude
were not conducive to the success of the union, in that he ruled as an
enlightened despot rather than a constitutional monarch. He was too readily
inclined to despatch by royal decree matters which should properly have passed
through both Chambers of the States-General. He prosecuted Catholic clergy who
publicly preached against the religious provisions of the constitution or
against decrees which gave effect to them.

     When his policies were criticized in the newspapers he did not balk at
infringing the constitutional freedom of the press by resorting to censorship
or bribing journalists. William finally incurred the hostility of the Catholic
population as a whole by founding a `College of Philosophy,' which all
intending priests were required to attend for two years, designed to inculcate
and gain support for the royal theories on statecraft.

     All this was more than enough to provoke fierce opposition in Belgium
from orthodox Catholics and Liberals alike. Yet for the time being they
resigned themselves to the existing order as, after the upheavals of the
revolutionary period, there was a general desire for peace and the storm did
not break until 1830.

     William I has also been called the Merchant King. He may be credited with
a whole series of initiatives, the aim of which was to resuscitate trade and
industry, a noteworthy example being the establishment of the Nederlandsche
Handelsmaatschappij (Netherlands Trading Company) in the North and the
Societe Generale in the South. The King acquired a good deal of the
capital and, to attract other shareholders, used his own funds to guarantee
a fixed dividend for a number of years. The Netherlands Trading Company was an
essential link in the compulsory crops regime introduced in the East Indies
under William I, whereby a single integrated cultivation-cum-levy system,
known as the `Culture System', was set up and operated by the colonial
administration. The native population of Java were compelled to grow on
one-fifth of their land whatever crops the administration ordered and to
supply them to the latter at fixed prices. The Company then handled the
shipment and sale of the produce. The proceeds benefited both the colonial and
the metropolitan governments, and the latter began to rely increasingly on the
former's surplus trade balance.

     King William himself was to see little of the fruits of his work; he
merely experienced great annoyance at the apathy of the vast majority of his
subjects, especially in the North. It was due to his efforts that the first
railway line was opened between Amsterdam and Haarlem in 1839, despite the
objections of numerous conservative elements, for whom the horsedrawn barge
and mailcoach remained the ideal modes of transport. William also had a great
many existing roads surfaced and new roads laid. He ordered canals to be dug,
such as the Zuid-Willemsvaart, from 's-Hertogenbosch to Liege. He promoted
the iron industry, the Usines Cockerill, in Liege-Seraing and the textile
industry in Flanders and Twente, by such measures as the establishment of
textile colleges. Anxious to provide Amsterdam and Rotterdam with good access
to the North Sea, he envisaged the digging of the North Sea Canal (to
Amsterdam) and the New Waterway (to Rotterdam) finally carried out about 1870,
but at that early juncture the King had to make do with less satisfactory
solutions because contemporary engineers would not venture to breach the
protective line of sand dunes. Royal support was also given to the Benevolent
Society founded by Van den Bosch, later Governor-General of the East Indies.

     Meanwhile, opposition to William's authoritarian rule was growing in the
Southern Netherlands, and assumed dangerous proportions for the continued
existence of the Union when Belgian Liberals and Catholics joined forces - in
contrast to developments elsewhere in Europe - against the regime. An
anti-Dutch insurrection broke out in Brussels, partly inspired by the July
Revolution in France, on 25 August 1830 during a performance of Auber's opera
La Muette de Portici, which had a strongly nationalistic theme. A civil guard
raised by the propertied class managed to restore a measure of order, although
its members, too, demonstrated their Belgian nationalist sympathies by wearing
the colours of Brabant, red, yellow and black, instead of the red, white and
blue of the kingdom. The seriousness of events was not comprehended in time in
the North, where they were regarded as little more than minor disturbances.

     When the King finally realized what was at stake, he sent an army under
the command of his two sons William and Frederick; but it was too late. Crown
Prince William, the 'Hero of Waterloo', who still enjoyed some degree of
popularity in the South, tried to save the Union by seeking to negotiate with
the fast-growing independence movement, but was immediately recalled by his
father. The army was forced to return, its mission unaccomplished, because the
Belgians were offered military assistance by the French, to whom the collapse
of the barrier erected against them could hardly have been a disagreeable
prospect. Britain, who saw in the United Netherlands a nascent trade
competitor, also withheld assistance in maintaining the status quo. King
William I, however, rejected every proposal made by the Great Powers, and for
years kept his army mobilized along the border between North and South. Not
until 1838 did he consent to recognize the separation. The spirit of the
decision taken in 1815 to form a bulwark against the French was preserved by a
declaration of Belgian neutrality guaranteed by the Great Powers. Luxembourg
remained in personal union with the Netherlands since the grand ducal title
belonged to the House of Orange. In the North the main consequences of the
secession of Belgium were a deepening sense of national identity and a
political reawakening. A more critical attitude towards the King's autocratic
rule was adopted and there were demands for a greater voice for the people in
government policy.

Thorbecke's constitution

     The secession of Belgium had brought about a revival of national and
liberal feeling in the North. As in the rest of Europe, it was not yet a case
of the proletariat demanding political rights, but of the middle classes
striving to obtain a liberal revision of the machinery of government. What was
needed was a leader who could translate their aspirations into a workable
programme of reforms.

     In 1840 a disenchanted King William I had abdicated in favour of his son
William II, who was generally expected to be more amenable to the new ideas.
But once king, William II proved to be just as averse to political reform as
his father had been. In 1844 a number of Liberal members of the Lower House of
Parliament exercised their right to initiate legislation by introducing a Bill
for the amendment of the constitution. The awe in which the person of the
sovereign was held was still so great at the time, however, that the majority
of the House considered that such a proposal could not legitimately emanate
from any source other than the King himself.

     One of the chief authors of the Bill was a young university professor,
Johan Rudolf Thorbecke. He was born in 1798, and in the early days after the
liberation had studied Classics at Leiden and subsequently Law at Berlin,
where he was strongly influenced by the Historical School, which was
particularly concerned with the evolution of law and society. Thorbecke was
appointed professor at Ghent and later, after the secession of Belgium, at
Leiden. In his lectures on constitutional law he dealt with the successive
constitutions of the Netherlands since 1795, including that of 1815, which was
still in force. His lectures in this constitution, published in a collection
entitled 'Notes on the Constitution', soon became the Liberals' bible.
Thorbecke was not, however, a politician, intent on winning favour with the
electorate; he was closer akin to Cavour, for instance, having set himself a
political goal and pursuing it with no concessions to either friend or foe.

     The February revolution of 1848 in France, which cost Louis Philippe, the
'Citizen King', his throne, engendered a wave of unrest throughout Europe. The
impulsive William II, declaring himself to have 'changed from Conservative to
Liberal overnight', summoned the President of the Lower House of Parliament in
order to be apprised of the liberal aspirations of the people. A new cabinet
was appointed to frame a revised constitution on liberal lines. The obvious
person to lead such a cabinet was Thorbecke, but the King and his entourage
did not care for this rather dour politician, who was moreover known to be a
republican.

     Thorbecke was, however, appointed chairman of the State Commission on the
Revision of the Constitution. The advantage of his chairmanship, as in the
case of Van Hogendorp in 1814, was that the commission was able to work
quickly and efficiently, being presided over by a man who had already been
immersed in the subject-matter for years and had a draft ready to serve as a
basis for discussion. The Commission's proposals were accepted without
amendment by the King and both Houses of Parliament, and the new constitution
was promulgated as early as 3 November 1848. Again, the obvious course for the
King would have been to give Thorbecke the task of forming a new government,
with a view to framing the laws provided for in the new constitution to give
effect to the principles it established. But the King could not bring himself
to do so and, as a consequence, the Lower House passed only one of the many
laws proposed. When William III, an autocrat like his grandfather, succeeded
on his father's death in March 1849, he pursued the same line, at first
refusing even to receive Thorbecke. However, he soon found himself constrained
by Parliament and public opinion to entrust the author of the constitution
with the formation of a new ministry.

     The 1848 constitution cannot be called a revision of its predecessor. It
was a completely new law, establishing political freedom and democracy in the
Netherlands for the first time. Never has there been any question since of
curtailing the rights it conferred on the people. In 1948 the centenary of its
promulgation was therefore celebrated with due ceremony.

     Under the constitution the Crown is inviolable, the ministers being
responsible to both Houses of Parliament. Accordingly, every Act every royal
decree are required to bear, besides the sovereign's signature, the signature
of the minister responsible. The Crown has the right to dissolve parliament in
the event of a conflict and to call elections, although subject to cabinet
approval. The constitution laid down in detail those matters which had to be
regulated by Act of Parliament, i.e. requiring the assent of both Houses. The
Lower House of Parliament was no longer elected by the previous complicated
system of indirect voting, but by direct suffrage. The electorate remained
small, however, since the franchise was still subject to a property
qualification.

     A single-member constituency system was introduced such as still operates
in Britain. The members of the Upper House had previously been appointed by
the King, thus forming a bastion against any undue radicalism on the part of
the Lower House. Under the new rules its members were elected from among the
highest taxpayers by the Provincial Estates, who in turn were elected by those
enfranchised to return the Lower House. The latter also elected the municipal
councils. Thorbecke introduced a large degree of municipal autonomy, clearly
and deliberately in contrast to the French system of centralized government.
Thorbecke's Municipal Act was formulated in such lucid and practical terms
that it called for no major changes during almost a century. An important
element of Thorbecke's constitution was the principle of the public
accessibility; all meetings of elected bodies were open to the public, except
in very special and precisely defined cases. The Lower House was invested with
four rights, enabling it to fulfil its legislative functions and to keep a
check on the government. Under the 1848 constitution it had the right of
initiative, i.e. the right to introduce legislation itself if it deemed that
the government was neglecting to do so. It also had the right of amendment, or
power to modify any Bill introduced. It further had the right of enquiry, or
power to conduct independent investigations into possible abuses. Finally, the
lower House had the right of interpellation, i.e. the right to ask one or more
ministers questions which they were required to answer in parliament. In this
way broad policy was - and still is - imposed on ministers, their alternative
being to accept or resign. The autocratic William III nevertheless retained
many a minister against the will of one or other house, but in 1868 the Lower
House carried the day against him when it forced a cabinet to resign by
rejecting the budget estimates.

     The Upper House was invested with three of the four above rights, not
having the right of amendment, being able merely to vote for or against a Bill
in its entirety. Consequently, only where it has very serious objections does
the Upper House vote against a Bill.

     The new constitution made explicit provision for civil liberties,
guaranteeing freedom of religion, the press, association and assembly.

     The 1848 constitution expressly provided for complete freedom of religion
and denied the government the right to subject any ecclesiastical ruling to
official approval. In 1853 the Pope therefore decided to restore the Roman
Catholic hierarchy which had been abolished in the Netherlands since the 16th
century. The wording of the relevant Papal decree incited the Protestants to
unleash a violent anti-Catholic campaign. The sympathy shown by William III to
the leaders of the campaign prompted Thorbecke to tender his resignation that
same year. The Conservative cabinet that succeeded his ministry could only
restrict the freedom to hold religious processions to some extent; but it had
to allow the episcopate to remain.